Black flags : the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick

The Resource Black flags : the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick

Black flags : the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick

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Traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist mastermind and soon the architect of an Islamist movement bent on dominating the Middle East. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq. Zarqawi began by directing terror attacks from a base in northern Iraq, but it was the American invasion in 2003 that catapulted him to the head of a vast insurgency. By falsely identifying him as the link between Saddam and bin Laden, U.S. officials inadvertently spurred like-minded radicals to rally to his cause. Their wave of brutal beheadings and suicide bombings persisted until American and Jordanian intelligence discovered clues that led to a lethal airstrike on Zarqawi's hideout in 2006. His movement, however, endured. First calling themselves al-Qaeda in Iraq, then Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, his followers sought refuge in unstable, ungoverned pockets on the Iraq-Syria border. When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, and as the U.S. largely stood by, ISIS seized its chance to pursue Zarqawi's dream of an ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate. Drawing on unique high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Warrick weaves gripping, moment-by-moment operational details with the perspectives of diplomats and spies, generals and heads of state, many of whom foresaw a menace worse than al Qaeda and tried desperately to stop it. Black Flags is a brilliant and definitive history that reveals the long arc of today's most dangerous extremist threat

The rise of Zarqawi. "What kind of person can command with only his eyes?" ; "Here was a real leader" ; "A problem like that always comes hack" ; "The time for training is over" ; "I did it for al-Qaeda and for Zarqawi" ; "This war is going to happen" ; "Now his fame would extend throughout the Arab world"

Iraq. "No longer a victory" ; "So you guys think this is an insurgency?" ; "Revolting is exactly what we want" ; "It would surpass anything al-Qaeda did" ; "The sheikh of the slaughterers" ; "It's hopeless there" ; "Are you going to get him?" ; "This is our 9/11" ; "Your end is close"

ISIS. "The people want to topple the regime!" ; "Where is this Islamic State of Iraq that you're talking about?" ; "This is the state for which Zarqawi paved the way" ; "The mood music started to change" ; "There was no more hope after that" ; "This is a tribal revolution"

Traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist mastermind and soon the architect of an Islamist movement bent on dominating the Middle East. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq. Zarqawi began by directing terror attacks from a base in northern Iraq, but it was the American invasion in 2003 that catapulted him to the head of a vast insurgency. By falsely identifying him as the link between Saddam and bin Laden, U.S. officials inadvertently spurred like-minded radicals to rally to his cause. Their wave of brutal beheadings and suicide bombings persisted until American and Jordanian intelligence discovered clues that led to a lethal airstrike on Zarqawi's hideout in 2006. His movement, however, endured. First calling themselves al-Qaeda in Iraq, then Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, his followers sought refuge in unstable, ungoverned pockets on the Iraq-Syria border. When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, and as the U.S. largely stood by, ISIS seized its chance to pursue Zarqawi's dream of an ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate. Drawing on unique high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Warrick weaves gripping, moment-by-moment operational details with the perspectives of diplomats and spies, generals and heads of state, many of whom foresaw a menace worse than al Qaeda and tried desperately to stop it. Black Flags is a brilliant and definitive history that reveals the long arc of today's most dangerous extremist threat

Summary

"When he succeeded his father in 1999, King Abdullah of Jordan released a batch of political prisoners in the hopes of smoothing his transition to power. Little did he know that among those released was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a man who would go on to become a terrorist mastermind too dangerous even for al-Qaeda and give rise to an Islamist movement bent on dominating the Middle East. Zarqawi began by directing hotel bombings and assassinations in Jordan from a base in northern Iraq, but it was the American invasion of that country in 2003 that catapulted him to the head of a vast insurgency. By identifying him as the link between Saddam and bin Laden, the CIA inadvertently created a monster. Like-minded radicals saw him as a hero resisting the infidel occupiers and rallied to his cause. Their wave of brutal beheadings and suicide bombings continued for years until Jordanian intelligence provided the Americans with the crucial intelligence needed to eliminate Zarqawi in a 2006 airstrike. But his movement endured, first called al-Qaeda in Iraq, then renamed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, seeking refuge in unstable, ungoverned pockets on the Iraq-Syria border. And as the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, ISIS seized its chance to pursue Zarqawi's dream of a sweeping, ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate. Drawing on unique access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Joby Warrick weaves together heart-pounding, moment-by-moment operational details with overarching historical perspectives to reveal the long trajectory of today's most dangerous Islamic extremist threat"--

The rise of Zarqawi. "What kind of person can command with only his eyes?" ; "Here was a real leader" ; "A problem like that always comes hack" ; "The time for training is over" ; "I did it for al-Qaeda and for Zarqawi" ; "This war is going to happen" ; "Now his fame would extend throughout the Arab world" -- Iraq. "No longer a victory" ; "So you guys think this is an insurgency?" ; "Revolting is exactly what we want" ; "It would surpass anything al-Qaeda did" ; "The sheikh of the slaughterers" ; "It's hopeless there" ; "Are you going to get him?" ; "This is our 9/11" ; "Your end is close" -- ISIS. "The people want to topple the regime!" ; "Where is this Islamic State of Iraq that you're talking about?" ; "This is the state for which Zarqawi paved the way" ; "The mood music started to change" ; "There was no more hope after that" ; "This is a tribal revolution"

The rise of Zarqawi. "What kind of person can command with only his eyes?" ; "Here was a real leader" ; "A problem like that always comes hack" ; "The time for training is over" ; "I did it for al-Qaeda and for Zarqawi" ; "This war is going to happen" ; "Now his fame would extend throughout the Arab world" -- Iraq. "No longer a victory" ; "So you guys think this is an insurgency?" ; "Revolting is exactly what we want" ; "It would surpass anything al-Qaeda did" ; "The sheikh of the slaughterers" ; "It's hopeless there" ; "Are you going to get him?" ; "This is our 9/11" ; "Your end is close" -- ISIS. "The people want to topple the regime!" ; "Where is this Islamic State of Iraq that you're talking about?" ; "This is the state for which Zarqawi paved the way" ; "The mood music started to change" ; "There was no more hope after that" ; "This is a tribal revolution"